Public Safety

Aug. 21, 2011

CLINCH PARK DEATH
City officials want to find out how a teenager swimming in the Clinch Park
Marina suffered an electric shock and drowned.
Michael Scott Knudsen, 18, of Mancelona, died at around 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15.
An autopsy showed the cause of death to be electric shock/drowning,
according to a City of Traverse City news release.
A preliminary investigation by the city determined that a short in a
220-volt electrical line, which carries power to a section of floating
dock, caused an electrical current to enter the water, according to the
city’s press release.
Witnesses said Knudsen had been swimming with a friend when he went
underwater and did not surface, TC Police Capt. Steve Morgan said.
The friend was able to make it back to the dock and reported that he
suffered an electric shock in the water, Morgan said.
Swimming is prohibited in the marina.

FACEBOOK ACCOSTING ALLEGED
A 19-year-old TC man is accused of exchanging naked photos with an
underage teenager and then using the photos to attempt to force the girl
to sneak out of her house to meet him.
Zachary David Ellis faces charges of accosting a child for immoral
purposes, possession of child pornography, and use of a computer to commit
a crime, all four-year felonies. The charges follow a Grand Traverse
Sheriff’s Department investigation in East Bay Township.
Ellis was arraigned in 86th District Court on Aug. 16 where he was held on
$100,000 bond, ordered to not have contact with anyone under the age of
18, and not to use computers or smart phones if released.
Ellis allegedly struck up a relationship with a 14-year-old girl over
Facebook and text messages in late 2010 and in June told her he would
share naked photos she sent him unless she snuck out of her house to meet
him, according to the charges.

CADILLAC CAR-JACKING
A 60-year-old woman who had just filled her car up with gas was surprised
by a man who forced himself into her vehicle and ordered her to give him a
lift at knifepoint.
The Cadillac Police Department arrested a 32-year-old Charlevoix man on
charges of car-jacking Aug. 18 for the incident that happened four days
earlier at a Speedway gas station on N. Mitchell Street
Police tracked the man down through witness accounts and evidence
collected from the scene.
The woman was able to get out of her vehicle and the man drove away. About
a half hour later, police found the car in a driveway of an abandoned
house on the city’s northeast side.

BREAK-IN SUSPECT ARRESTED
Surveillance of an area around 14th Street in TC led to police arresting a
man thought to be responsible for a rash of recent break-ins.
The arrest occurred on Aug. 18 at around 12:35 a.m.; the previous two
nights, break-ins had occurred in the area.
Police had video of a suspect from one break-in that gave them an idea of
what to look for and they suspected overnight surveillance of the area
might pay off, TC Police Capt. Brian Heffner said.
Heffner said the man, a 20-year-old TC resident, and another suspect who
was interviewed, a 21-year-old TC resident, admitted to four of six
break-ins which occurred in town in the past week, including at the 14th
Street Subway restaurant, at nearby Church of the Nazarene and Trinity
Lutheran Church, and at the River Concession in Clinch Park.
Heffner said the suspects may also be responsible for recent break-ins at
Leone’s Frosty Treat on 14th Street and the State Street Barber Shop. In
all of the break-ins, thieves gained entry by kicking in or throwing
something through windows.

DISORDERLY AT CAMPGROUND
A man who threatened to shoot fellow campers led police on a chase through
a campground and was arrested after a scuffle.
Crawford County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the North Higgins Lake
State Park in Beaver Creek Township on Aug. 14 to investigate reports of
disorderly conduct, Sheriff Kirk Wakefield said. A man allegedly
threatened to retrieve a gun from his vehicle and start shooting,
Wakefield said in a press release.
Police found the man driving his vehicle in the campground and attempted
to pull him over but he sped away. When police finally stopped the vehicle
the man had to be physically removed and tasered by state police troopers,
Wakefield said.
A trooper suffered minor injuries in the arrest. It was determined the
suspect was intoxicated.

WORKPLACE MISHAP KILLS MAN
A 30-year-old Onekama man was killed as he repaired a semitrailer tire at
Ron Brown and Son’s Inc. asphalt paving in Bear Lake.
Kurt Milarch was killed in the incident, which happened on Aug. 15 and
which is under investigation by the Michigan State Police. Police said no
foul play was suspected.

BEAVER ISLAND FIGHT
Two men are not talking after police found them beaten and bloodied
outside of a tavern.
Police were called to the Shamrock Bar on Main Street on Beaver Island at
around 3 a.m. on Aug. 14 to break up a fight between several people,
according to a Charlevoix County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Police found Austin J. Bowersock, 19, lying on the sidewalk bleeding from
the nose, and Jody Robert Putnam, 43, also injured from an assault.
Both were taken to the Beaver Island Health Center to be treated for
injuries that included a broken nose, cuts to the head and possible broken
ribs.
Police said both victims were extremely intoxicated and refused to give
statements to the police. Witnesses were also reluctant to speak, police
said.

DRUNK WITH SHOTGUN
A man with a shotgun who walked in on a party that had already been busted
by the cops wound up in jail after a manhunt.
Grand Traverse Sheriff’s deputies
were called
to a party on Merritt Street in Fife Lake after someone complained about
noise. Police were investigating an assault that occurred earlier at the
party when the gun-toting party guest arrived, Lt. Christopher Clark said.
When deputies ordered the man to drop the weapon, at 3:44 a.m. on Aug. 18,
the 19-year-old Kalkaska man fled, Clark said. The suspect was later
arrested in Kalkaska County with the assistance of the sheriff’s
department there on charges of felonious assault, possession of a firearm
while intoxicated and traffic violations.
No one was injured in the incident, Clark said.

FAMILY CRIME SPREE ALLEGED
The traffic stop of two men driving ORVs the wrong-way on a county road
unraveled a much larger crime involving six family members.
Crawford County Sheriff Kirk Wakefield said deputies stopped two suspects,
ages 19 and 22 from the Lovells area, and discovered the quads appeared to
have been hot-wired.
Police tracked down the residence of the owner of the ORVs in Otsego
County and discovered that his garage and house had recently been broken
into.
The two suspects eventually admitted to the home invasion and they
implicated four other family members, Wakefield said in a statement.
Police executed search warrants at two Lovells-area residences and
discovered other allegedly stolen items, including another quad, a 64-inch
television, computers and other items worth around $20,000.

BOYNE COYOTES
Residents of the southern part of Boyne City have been asked to be on
guard after a daylight sighting of a coyote in the city limits.
Boyne City Police Chief Randall C. Howard is warning residents not to let
pets out loose, especially cats.
Howard also said people should not feed the coyotes, either intentionally
or by leaving garbage out at night. Anyone who spots a coyote in Boyne
City is asked to call the police department at
(231) 582-6611.